The Covid emergency is now a distant and faded memory. 4 years after the pandemic which forced hundreds of millions of people to profoundly transform their lifestyle habits, many are experiencing what has been called Long Covid syndrome. People who are affected, and who have complained about even serious problems from the first moments, live their days with persistent symptoms such as asthenia, chronic headaches, difficulty carrying out daily activities, as well as cardiac and neurological problems. And we are not talking about a few isolated cases. According to data collected across the entire national territory, 45 percent of Italians infected during the pandemic complain of symptoms, in some cases disabling. The problem is therefore serious, and the Medical Association of Milan itself highlights the importance of seriously addressing this phenomenon which, however, is talked about very little.
Long Covid has a significant impact on the Healthcare System
The president of the Milan Medical Association, Roberto Carlo Rossi, highlighted how the post-Covid syndrome represents a significant socio-health impact on the national healthcare system. “Thanks to vaccines and a more in-depth understanding of the virus – explained Rossi – we managed to mitigate the effects of the first Covid-19 infection. However, the current challenge is to effectively manage the effects of Long-Covid.” According to data from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, between 2021 and 2022, there were 4,700 deaths linked to post-Covid in Italy, a figure that is probably underestimated. In the Milan area alone, approximately 350 related deaths are estimated. “These numbers – states OmceoMi – highlight the need for greater awareness of the post-Covid syndrome, both among local medical professionals and in the general population.”
The first training courses on Long Covid are underway
An asynchronous distance learning course (FAD) called ‘Epidemiology, clinic and management of Post Covid syndrome’, promoted by the Milan Medical Association, will start today. The objective of this course is to provide in-depth knowledge on Long Covid, analyzing the subacute and chronic clinical manifestations that can last for months after the acute infection, with a significant impact on people’s quality of life and on healthcare and management costs. The objective is to better understand “the phenomenon of affected people who present, weeks after the end of the acute infection, various subacute and chronic clinical manifestations, often decidedly disabling and lasting over time, even several months, with an impact sensitive, as well as on healthcare and management costs, also on the person’s quality of life. The first available numbers demonstrate this, and many more will arrive to confirm it. Hence the need to create a specific course, for adults and pediatrics, which can help in the recognition and treatment of this syndrome, above all defining a path to initiate patients, who often say they feel little understood and helped. Once again the Ambrosian Omceo is leading the way on an issue that is passed over almost in silence but which affects many citizens (and many doctors, who have fallen ill on the front line) and who have not even recognized an exemption for pathology or a specific disability code is listed”.
Maria Grazia Manfredi and Massimo Parise, scientific managers and advisors of OmceoMi, stated that the course has a dual objective: to offer (in)formation on the post Covid syndrome, highlighting epidemiological data, possible manifestations and sequelae, and the management of the condition in all its various implications targeting the right patients. At the same time, the course aims to help clinicians, specialists and local medicine to standardize and standardize an effective approach to patient treatment, providing adequate support.
June 20, 2024
